Episode 1014: The Astros-Royals Roster Reversal
Date February 2, 2017 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about how and why the Astros and Royals seem to have exchanged strategies and revisit champagne in the clubhouse and trampolines, then answer listener emails about what to hack if you were hacking, Statcast and baserunning, catcher framing, and Mike Trout. Topics * What to take when hacking a team * Intentionally running into outs * Historically good and bad catcher framing teams * Overpaying Mike Trout * Mike Trout's Hall of Fame plaque Intro Death Cab for Cutie, "Champagne from a Paper Cup" Outro Jason Isbell, "24 Frames" Banter * Ben wonders what has driven the recent changes to the rosters of the Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros. Both have greatly restructured their rosters when considering contact rates and player speed. * Episode 1013 follow-up: A listener wrote in that on a minor league team non-alcoholic champagne was provided for player celebrations with "the good stuff" reserved for the coaching staff. * Episode 1012 follow-up: Ben recalls Joba Chamberlain's gruesome injury he suffered when jumping on a trampoline with his son. Email Questions * Eric: "If you could get one thing from a team's database, what would it be? I think I'd like their internal prospect rankings of their own team." * Bruce: "My sense is that the 2016 Blue Jays led MLB in intentional TOOTBLANS, namely getting throw out by 20-80 feet after a base hit by forcing a cutoff throw from the outfield to ensure that a lead runner scores. The outee would get high fives all around in the dugout. Is it possible to measure the efficiency of this strategy? Seems to me that unless it's late innings in a close game the intentional TOOTBLAN is not to be recommended." * Lindell: "Say Mike Trout was a free agent this offseason, how much would a team have to give Trout to make him a Ryan Howard or Albert Pujols level of overpaid contract?" * Charlie: "If Mike Trout leaves the Angels after 2020, will he still go into the Hall as an Angel? I think if he signs with another team and eventually retires with that team then team two will be on his cap in Cooperstown." Stat Blast * Jeff uses data on Baseball Prospectus to examine teams that have been the best and worst throughout history at catcher framing. * The Colorado Rockies have had just two seasons in franchise history with above average catcher framing performance. * The Atlanta Braves have had positive pitch framing seasons in 24 of the last 29 seasons. * The Miami Marlins have had a positive pitch framing season just once in franchise history (2003). Notes * Jeff agrees with Eric and would first want to know how highly a team values their own prospects. * In Episode 696 Ben and Sam also discussed what they might do if hacking a team's database. * Jeff uses the contract estimation tool on FanGraphs to estimate contracts for Mike Trout if he were a free agent this offseason. It estimated that a fair contract would be 10 years, $731 million. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1014: The Astros-Royals Roster Reversal Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes